“The more constraints one imposes, the more one frees one's self of the chains that shackle the spirit.”
— Igor Stravinsky, Poetics of Music
In music production, we have more choices than any producer in history has ever had.
We have unlimited tracks, thousands of plugins, and every sound we've ever heard is one search away.
Three guiding principles turn those choices into decisions we only have to make once.
The Starting Point
We usually open a new project with no rules at all.
Any tempo, any sound, any plugin and any idea is allowed.
That sounds like freedom, but it often feels like a blank page that won't stop asking questions.
Every choice we haven't made yet takes a little energy, and one song needs hundreds of them.
The Invitation
A guiding principle is a decision we make once, before the session starts.
“Every song is under three minutes.” “One synth per song.” “The lead vocal is always the loudest thing in the mix.”
Three rules are enough to give a project its own identity, but not so many that we spend the session checking a list.
Everything else stays open, and that's where the fun is.
The Test
Try it on the last song you didn't finish.
Write down every choice we went back and forth on: the tempo, the drum sounds, the key and the reverb.
Most of those questions would have been answered by a rule we set before we started.
Pick the three questions that came up most often, and answer them before the next song starts.
The Guidepost
A good guiding principle is short enough to remember in the middle of a session.
It also says no to something specific: “No more than eight tracks” says no to the ninth track.
If a rule never says no to anything, it's only a wish.
When two rules fight each other, keep the one that gets the song finished.
The Change
Before the next song, write three rules on a sticky note, and put it on the edge of the screen.
Make one rule about sound, one about structure and one about finishing.
For example: “One synth only,” “Under three minutes,” and “Bounce a mix tonight.”
Keep all three for the whole song, even when a new plugin is calling our name.
Pro Tip: Turn on Scale Mode (Ableton Live 12) or Keys Lock in Scaler 3 (any DAW), so the key is set before the first note.
The Return
Rules can feel like the opposite of creativity, but a lot of great songs were finished inside them.
Fewer choices usually means more finished songs.
The three rules don't have to last forever; they only have to last until this song is done.
When you start your next song, instead of asking: “What else could this be?”
Ask: “What are my three rules?”
Free Ableton Live Course and Music Production Resources
Song of the Week 🎧
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Listen to how much happens in two minutes and twelve seconds.
The Ramones recorded this song at Plaza Sound in New York in January 1976, with producer Craig Leon, and they finished the whole album in about a week for about $6,400. Tommy Ramone wrote the music and most of the lyrics; Dee Dee Ramone added lyrics and gave it its title. On the album, the bass sits on the left side and the rhythm guitar sits on the right side, with almost nothing in between.
A great song. Three chords, one chant and no wasted seconds, and you can name the band inside one bar.
YouTube Wisdom of the Week đź“š
Jim Collins Drucker Day Keynote (Drucker Institute)
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Good to Great — Jim Collins
Collins and his research team studied companies that went from good results to great results and stayed there. He argues that the great ones were just as clear about what they would stop doing as about what they would do, and he tells readers to keep a “stop doing” list. In a session, that's three rules that say no before the plugin menu ever opens.
Plugin of the Week 🔌
Lock it to one key, pick a chord set by mood, artist or genre, and it suggests the chords that can come next. It also detects the key and chords in your own MIDI or audio, and it hosts your own instrument plugins on its chord tracks. Choose the key and the chord set once, then write inside them.
Free Plugin of the Week 🆓
Free, open source and enormous: three oscillators per scene, twelve oscillator types and more than 2,800 presets. That's exactly why you want three rules before you open it.
Unsolicited life advice for music makers
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